


Aro Overlays

by Nocticola



Series: Ace/Aro characters [59]
Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Aromantic, Autistic Audrey Parker, Canon Bisexual Character, Cupioromantic, Demiromantic, Gen, Nebularomantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-28 09:50:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19391626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nocticola/pseuds/Nocticola
Summary: All versions of Mara are aro-spec. Here's how:1)aromantic!Mara2) bi!Veronica3) arospec!Sarah Vernon4) arospec!Lucy Ripley5)nebularomantic!Audrey Parker6) cupioromantic!Lexie DeWitt7) demiromantic!Paige





	1. Aromantic Mara

**Author's Note:**

> For aggressivelyarospec week 2019, I got inspired to write a proper aro Haven savers fic.

Mara has never been in love. She's never seen the point of romantic love, or really, love at all. It's no wonder, considering that the person who loved her the most, her beloved father who broke all the rules he had to in order to save her, was punished and ripped from Mara when she was still too young. 

She was a sickly child, and the only thing that could help her was Aether from the Void. Her father, who taught her how to swim, let her have coffee whenever she wanted, who called her Dove, wouldn't hear no for an answer, and he ended up saving her life, against the objections of her society, even her own mother. No one loved her like her father did, and he was punished for it. 

After something like that, how could Mara believe in love? Her prime example of romantic love was shown to be a sham, with her mother being part of the people who banished Mara's father into the Void. Even maternal love clearly had it's limits, because Charlotte hadn't done everything she could for Mara, but had given up when it was too 'difficult', or 'dangerous', or 'against the rules'. Her father hadn't cared, and Mara lived but lost him because of it. What use does Mara have for love, when those who you give it to will just use it to hurt her? 

Even so, she does eventually realize that love does have its uses. William loves her, and would do anything for her. She didn't corrupt him, she just took his skills and willingness to new heights, and it was glorious. The things they managed to do with Aether was more than her father could have even imagined. She knows he would have been proud, and maybe that's something. And William was useful, though sometimes Mara had to strain not to roll her eyes at his puppy dog looks. 

But once again, her mother betrayed her. She followed her into this primitive nearby dimension that Mara used to perfect her skills, convinced her people that Mara was evil and misguided and needed to be punished. To be *fixed*. Like her father. Just because Mara didn't see the point of not using Aether on the so called humans that were so susceptible to it, just because her beloved was that in name only. 

Mara didn't love William. She didn't love her mother. She had loved her father. All of these things caused her to be punished. 

*** 

Nathan Wuornos is the epitome of all that Mara had to suffer through her 500 years of torture. Sure, there were other men (and women) versions of her loved (Mara never loved them; her mother's punishment was bullshit), but Nathan Thaddeus Wuornos was the only one to infect so many versions of her. She doesn't understand how. There's nothing remarkable about him, except his stubborness and refusal to give up. His willingness to do anything for 'Audrey' reminds Mara of William, but at least William wanted the same things Mara did. Nathan and Audrey want the Troubles to end. Mara wants to perfect them. Nathan's stubborness is of no use to Mara. As much as remnants of Sarah and Lucy and Audrey (maybe even Lexie) exist within her, loving Nathan and wanting to fix everything, Mara can put them aside. She *can*. She is stronger than her damn overlays. 

The only one she might have felt what people say is romantic love was Duke Crocker. Even so, it was mostly shared parental issues, the same selfishness, lingering feelings for Audrey and a desire to be needed. Duke needed her, and maybe he confused that for love. Mara was interested in Duke's darkness, in the Troubles in him, in what Duke could do for her. It wasn't real love. Mara has never been interested in duping herself like that. _”I kinda love you, Duke Crocker,”_ was the closest she could ever get to that feeling, and even she knows it wasn't much. 

Mara never did learn to love (all of that went to her overlays, especially the husk of Audrey Duke split out of Mara). Maybe that's why she couldn't survive.


	2. Bi(aro?) Veronica

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the only things we know about Veronica is her name, that her cycle ended in 1902 and the Harker Trouble made havoc in 1901 and that according to Mara she's bi, a lot of this is very headcanon.
> 
> If you want to read more about Veronica, I suggest _a bird in a gilded_ cage by othiara , absolutely beautiful fic I've been meaning to reread since it was published here https://archiveofourown.org/works/3296866 .

Veronica always knew she loved both men and women the same way. She also knew that she shouldn't. She never heard anyone say that it was possible. Loving men was of course expected and encouraged, and while one might love other women, it could not be in the same way a woman loves a man. Veronica never cared what anyone said. She knew her own heart, and she knew she might end up married to a man or in a supposed spinsterhood with a dear roommate. Which fate befalls her, she does not yet know. But it's a new century, Veronica is in a new town, and she won't let old prejudices hold her back. She'll love who she loves, however she loves. 

Haven is a small town, but seems more open to oddities than she's used to. Which is no wonder, considering what goes on in this town. It supposes that when a person might control the weather, or someone's cries kill people, caring about who someone shares their bed with might not be so important. Especially if that someone is helpful to the people of this town. Veronica has always wanted to help people, and she is fortunate to have an inheritance that allows her to live quite comfortably. She makes good use of both in this town. That probably earns her some leeway. 

There's not really a way for her to be completely open about her affections for women, but people like her have always had their ways of making themselves know. Violets bloom beautifully in Maine this time of year, and it all makes it easier for her to seek company with the fairer sex. But there are a few men who too strike her fancy, but she needs no secret flower message to approach them. She really is lucky to be independently wealthy at this age. Makes everything so much easier. 

A few men propose marriage to her, and women like herself offer up room in their homes, so they might still appear respectable while they truly enjoy one another's company in open secret. But Veronica finds herself hesitant to accept. She likes her independence, and while she still has many questions about why she ended up in Haven and what is her role here, it seems more important than her love life. 

Veronica ends up surprised by just how much she ends up caring about this town and its peculiar inhabitants. She grows very fond of a few in particular. But there is no husband, no roommate, no old maidenhood for her. Her time in this town ends in heartbreak, like it always has, and maybe always will. But she will gladly sacrifice herself for this town. Veronica loves differently than her society expects, but she loves deeply, and it is that love that saves this town.


	3. Arospec Sarah Vernon

Sarah never thought much about love. Given her position in society, within her profession, as a nurse surrounded by men in war zones, where the knowledge that one might never come back is always there, she often lives by the moment, taking whatever pleasure she manages to find for herself. It doesn't do good things for her reputation, but she doesn't care about that. She's a damn good nurse, knows how to handle herself in a crisis, better than the doctors often enough, and what she does with her off time is the business of herself and whoever she spends her time with. 

She doesn't really have time for love, to find herself a husband, and settle down. She's always been a bit of a loner like that. But her career has always been very important to her. She's sad, though, because of so many friendships that she's lost to women leaving their jobs to get married to their sweethearts who survived the wars they fought in, the illnesses they tackled with. On the one hand, she is happy for them. But there is a part of her that wonders, ”Why haven't I done it yet? Where is my husband?” 

Sarah hates that the though ever crosses her mind. She enjoys her job, and doesn't want to put an end to her career for a husband, though she does think she might want a child one day, but the whole idea of being incomplete without a spouse has always felt preposterous to her. Ridiculous. She's a full human being, no matter the fact that she has no one to steadily share her nights with. 

Because that doesn't mean she's alone. She makes connections where she finds them, and both parties are usually happy with the encounter. Sometimes, she does think that maybe she does desire something else, but those men are always special, and feel uncomfortable with her initial arrangements. She does tend to go for the shy ones. 

*** 

The day she arrives in Haven, Maine, changes Sarah's whole life, in more ways than one. She finds a new home in Haven; she meets a man, Nathan, she has a connection with she can't explain (who calls a woman incredible five minutes after meeting her, without it being a line, and looks at her like she hung the moon while he does so?); and her careful plans about the future are put on hold. 

She doesn't know what exactly she felt for Nathan Wuornos that day. Why she went to have lunch with him on a beach in a flower dress, why she seduced him and why was she not careful the way she usually is when it came to using protection? She doesn't understand it. She doesn't really understand much about her place and role in Haven, but she trusts that she's in the right place. That being with Nathan wasn't a mistake. Because somehow, she trusts him. And she trusts herself. 

She still feels like that when she realizes that she's pregnant. Even when realizes that her life is a lie, that there is another woman out there named Sarah Vernon who did all the things she thinks she did, even when she realizes that her time in Haven will be all too brief, she doesn't really regret any of it. 

She loves her son, James, loves him enough to give him the chance at life she is denied, loves him enough for both of his birth parents that cannot be there to love him. Maybe she loved Nathan, too. Maybe she always does.


	4. Arospec Lucy Ripley

Lucy has never cared much for labels. That's why she never puts much thought to her lack of a desire to settle down. She's a wandering soul, looking for a place to belong to but never finding one. Never looking to settle down with any random Tom, Dick or Harry she spends her nights with. She's glad things have developed enough that her promiscuity isn't seen as too much of a flaw. She never goes for married men though, that is the only code she has. While she doesn't quite know what she wants for herself, she knows she doesn't want to be a homewrecker. She gets her fun, though, wherever she goes. 

Things change only a little bit when she arrives in Haven, Maine on a work assignment. Even though she's never been there before, people keep telling her she looks like someone familiar, and ultimately before she can leave for her next assignment, that woman turns out to be named Sarah Vernon. Lucy has no known connection to the woman, except they share a face. Even though Sarah has curly red hair and Lucy's is brown and straight, the eyes that look out of a photograph are the same. Lucy's never had family. Now she might, and that is a freaky thought. 

When it turns out that she isn't related to Sarah, but she *is* Sarah, and that Sarah left someone behind, not a lover but a son, Lucy's world comes crashing down. She's a mother. Somehow. No one can really explain much about Sarah or her son to her, she only gets a name (”James, I've always liked that name”) but not a place, and she really doesn't know what to do with that information. 

Then she meets the two men responsible for all this. James Cogan arrives in Haven in May, and he is everything Lucy never knew to wish him to be. He's barely younger than she is (Lucy thinks of herself as 31, while James is about to turn 27), but she feels a maternal connection with him she never thought herself capable of. She loves him, deeply, more truly than she has ever loved anyone else. She did the right thing, gave him the right parents. 

But her time in Haven is limited, as she now knows it always is. Sarah was lucky to be in Haven long enough to give birth to James and keep him for days or weeks before she had to give him up. Lucy cannot image the pain. Her own is too big to contemplate, so she doesn't. 

As James's and Lucy's time in Haven draws to a close, a man from the FBI suddenly appears. He knows too much, looks at Garland and Lucy in a way that doesn't make sense. There's a connection that Lucy doesn't understand, because touching a pen with someone should not make sparks course through her veins. 

Soon, she knows why. The man is Nathan Wuornos, Garland's numb little boy is now a man right in front of Lucy's eyes, and he confesses to James' paternity right before Lucy is about to commit the greatest sacrifice for Haven. That explains the connection. He's loved her in the future, when she will be called Audrey, and he has loved Sarah, and that love gave birth to James. Lucy doesn't have much time to understand all of this, but maybe she loves him too. Her whole existence is a complicated mess of past and now future, why wouldn't feelings carry over? Sarah must have loved him, to keep his son. And Nathan must love her very much, it's clear in his every word and touch. 

But Nathan is not here for Lucy, or James. He's here for the future, and Lucy, the woman who went through life without major commitments, to save her heart from breaking, breaks twice, as she has to watch her son die, and to watch his father disappear back into his own time. 

Lucy never liked labels. But maybe this is why she never loved before.


	5. Nebularomantic Audrey Parker

Audrey doesn't always know what she feels. She doesn't always quite know how her brain works, either, but that doesn't bother her, because her out of the box, accept the facts no matter how weird, helps her with her cases. She goes through her life solving cases all over USA, never settling down enough to unpack her boxes, or remembering the names of her co-workers. She doesn't have friends. She never had the time for them.

She does know the 'why' of her weird brain. She's autistic, even if she doesn't really care to advertise that fact. Neurotypical people can read whatever they want into her weirdness. But it's not until she arrives and stays in Haven, Maine that she really starts to understand what exactly she doesn't understand about herself. 

She's always been good at reading other people. It's part foster homes, part observing NTs, part reading enough silly romance novels, that she knows when a childhood friend is interesting in something different, or when a woman makes up a trespassing case in order to get a cop to pay her house a visit. Other people are usually simple. 

Realizing her own feelings, or when someone else has them for her, though? A total mystery. She's a bit better at gauging sexual interest and knows how to flirt but someone wanting it to develop into something else, or someone wanting more than friendly flirting or a hook up, Audrey has no idea about that. Part of it is because she hasn't had friends since childhood, and her working environments have had such a huge turnover she never had to connect with people, and sometimes she's just blunt because she doesn't understand not to be. 

Being in Haven changes that. She develops a partnership with Nathan, a semi-flirty friendship with Duke, a little something with Julia, the kinda confusing situation with Jess, as well as the brief maternal behavior from Eleanor, it's all so *new* to her. She doesn't always know how to deal with it. 

She doesn't see why a working dinner would seem like a date, even if both she and Nathan dressed up for it. She wasn't quite sure how seriously Duke took the 'date' aspect of their bet before she had stood him up and he ended up almost dying. She's not quite sure of everything that was going on in her and Nathan's office during Jess' visits there. She's not sure whether something might have happened with Julia. 

She's even more surprised, how after the loss of… Audrey Prime (for some reason that is the only term that doesn't send her into a nervous breakdown), and seeing her have a steady relationship, even though they have the same memories, same tragic backstory to a pair of Mickey Mouse scissors, she still remembers Brad through whatever caused her amnesia. After that loss, Audrey feels like she should be able to do that too. She's not quite sure *why * she feels that need, but she does. Nathan tried to have a relationship. Duke's hot ex wife Evi is in Haven. Maybe she doesn't want to be left out of this dating thing. 

Yet, she still doesn't realize when Chris Brody is interested in her, or why he would be. She realizes even less that she might also be interested in him. She's not sure why. But Nathan (Nathan!) points it out to her, and maybe he's right. So, she goes out on a date with Chris. It's fine. They try to have other dates, but Haven gets in the way, and Chris doesn't handle it well. But she thinks there is a connection (or maybe she's just pretending) and she hooks up with him. She's never been shy about dealing with her libido, and maybe that's what this is. But she's not quite willing to admit that yet, so she sends Chris to London for his work, and waits for him to come back. But when he does, it becomes clear that it's not working. Audrey feels sad about it, but it's for the best. 

*** 

To highlight that she still doesn't quite understand this whole 'romantic feelings' thing, Nathan's 'not just partners' thing surprises her. It shouldn't have, but for some reason her brain went into work place and not personal place (maybe Nathan's habit of dividing his relationships has rubbed off on her), when Nathan started freaking out about her reckless work behavior. She should have seen this coming probably. Once she has time to think, there are moments that should have clued her into his feelings. But Nathan isn't very good at feelings either. 

When she thinks about herself, again, she should have realized where her feelings have been heading for a while. She did try with Chris. But the devastation she felt when Nathan died in her arms… ( _”It doesn't hurt. The only thing I feel is you.”_ How oblivious *is* she, really?) She's been having those feelings for a while, too. At first, she thinks it's best to just use Nathan's own words, to show that they are in the same page emotion-wise, but then… she really doesn't want to deny herself and kisses him. It feels good. Right. She wants to explore that more once she comes back. 

*** 

_”I've always loved you. I always will love you.”_ After a few horrible weeks, the words flow easily from her mouth towards Nathan's (still!)dead body. She kissed Duke, because he was there, a dear friend who had done so much for her. But it didn't feel right. What she has with Duke is friendship. It's not what she has with Nathan. What she's always had with Nathan. The words don't quite make sense, but they also do, and right now Audrey doesn't really care about anything but wanting Nathan to hear them, letting him know that her terrible behavior lately has been because she loves him. Always has. Always will. Then Nathan wakes up, breathes, and Audrey let's Jordan take care of him. Because that's what love is. 

*** 

Audrey sacrificed herself so she didn't have to sacrifice Nathan, and Nathan went and screwed it all up. Now she's back in Haven, with two sets of memories, neither one of which are real except in Haven and in the Bar(n), and Nathan is holding a gun to her hand, telling her to kill him. She will never do that. She'd rather die again. So, she does, in a way. Audrey goes hiding under Lexie's accent and brash behavior, and Nathan is in pain over it, but at least he's alive. 

Her ruse doesn't last long though. Duke figures it out, and she knows she should know what exactly Duke was trying to say (she heard him say he's in love with her, by the Barn. She doesn't know how to deal with that) about when people love you, they'll know you, but her brain capacity is taken with keeping Nathan alive and Lexie and Audrey straight from each other and none of it matters except that Nathan has to survive. 

But Nathan does figure it out, and it was a small thing, and he's *dying* again (because of cause he is) and she is tired of lying. They save him with a second to spare, and finally they can really talk to each other again. It's not pretty, but their situation hasn't been pretty for months. 

_”Because… I love you. That makes this my decision.”_ It should feel better, having the words out there. Seeing Nathan's face comprehent what she said, the pain and awe there. Those should be happy words. Instead, they are Nathan's dead sentence. At least both of them know what the other feels now. 

_”I don't care who you are, or what you are. I love you.”_ The words coming from Nathan's mouth are only slightly less painful but they are needed. Both of them are still hurting, there's still a lot to talk about. But when Nathan kisses her, the way he's never kissed her before, like it won't be just a kiss, Audrey succumbs to it. It feels good to just *feel * and not think. 

*** 

Audrey's life with Nathan isn't without it's issues. There's Nathan's death wish, William and Mara, Mara's/Audrey's parents. There's a lot of love and loss and pain and joy, and as Audrey looks at Nathan one last time as she leaves again in the Armory (the new Barn), she goes because she knows it's right, and that this is what she was always meant to do. But she got to have time with Nathan. It wasn't enough, but it was amazing. Now, she will never be confused about her feelings for Nathan. He was her family.


	6. Cupioromantic Lexie DeWitt

Lexie has never been afraid to let go of what isn't working out. She left her bum of a boyfriend on the side of a road, she picks up jobs just to try them, and while Arizona refuses to leave her voice, she's long since left Arizona behind. 

She's always been a bit surprised about how easy it is for her to end a relationship. She's been dating since she was 15, usually not because the guy is someone she's really interested in, but because it was something you were supposed to do. When she got older, other interests got into the picture, and then whatever she felt for the guy mattered even less than what he could do for her. 

But there was a part of her that still kinda searched for that feeling you were supposed to have, that reason people got into and stayed in relationships. 

She's never really realized that she'd never been in love until William asked her about it. She'd never really realized that there was an ache inside her, for something she doesn't know how to define and that she hasn't managed to find, no matter how hard she's been looking. Maybe it's the types of guys she dates. She does want a decent guy, someone who will treat her right, make her understand what this thing people call 'love' really is. What a relationship is supposed to be like. 

But a part of her is cynical, because of all her failed attempts at finding it. Usually, she settles for whatever connection she'd find with a guy like William after a shift, knowing nothing else will come of it. That keeps her satisfied. Usually. 

But maybe there is someone for her. Maybe she will eventually get it. She doesn't really know how to reconcile this certain lack of interest, of understanding, with a desire for something real. Maybe she'll get it eventually. 

Once she figures out what the hell is really going on with her life and this damn Bar that won't let her leave.


	7. Demiromantic Paige

Paige's dating life has always been a bit different than for most people. She's never really been good at it. She's developed into relationships with friends and co-workers, people she has already known. She hasn't been in many relationships, but that's fine by her. She's always willing to wait for the next one. It's one of the benefits of demiromanticism, you know who you'll get when you start dating them. 

Although, as she enters a new town and a new job, she has an additional hurtle when it comes to dating now: her son, James. James is only a few months old, and since Paige will be new in town, she never thought she'd have to think about her love life for a while. But then she runs into Nathan Wuornos, her knight in a shining blue Bronco, who saves them from a broken car. 

Paige immediately notices that Nathan is cute, and her aesthetic interest in him is surprisingly strong. She doesn't usually try to flirt with strangers, definitely not with her soon-to-be-hungry-and-crying son in the backseat, but there's just something about Nathan. She can tell that he is helpful and kind and cute and awkward, but she's pretty sure there is something else to it. The way he looks at her… The way she feels about him… There is something else going on here, but Paige has no idea how to start dealing with it. 

So, she doesn't. Or, in a way, she does. She slams a door on his fingers, and invites him for a pancake breakfast. It's pretty soon, and not something she'd normally do, but there is something about this guy… James likes him too, which is a good sign. 

This thing, it's not quite a date. It somewhat feels like one, but there is a baby involved, and sometimes Nathan stares at his surely aching hand in wonder (and sometimes he gives her the same look), but somehow they get through the boring small talk quickly and before they know it, it's lunch time already and they still feel like talking about everything and nothing. Nathan wants to know everything about her. Paige shares the feeling. 

The whole situation is very new for Paige, and because of that she feels the need to slow down. Nathan agrees, and they exchange numbers and emails, and decide to take it slow. 

Paige has never met someone and just felt like she already knew them, was bonded with them, but there is something about Nathan. Moving to Haven was a good decision. Paige is sure she and James will be happy here.


End file.
